Hangman's Elm

Hangman’s Elm is one of the oldest trees in New York. The Parks Department estimates it’s 340 years old and its reputation as The Hanging Tree goes back to the 19th Century 

• We can’t say for sure if hanging occurred, but wood from English Elms are strong enough to “hang a school-bus from its branches” and rumors as old as the American Revolution say this tree was used to hang traitors. 
• After the Revolution, the area turned into a site for public executions, and the legend of the Hangman’s Elm continued to grow. 
• There are no official records of hangings from Hangman’s Elm, but in 1820, a woman named Rose Butler was hanged for arson nearby. 
• The legend of the tree is as deeply rooted in Greenwich Village as the tree itself.